79
submitted 1 month ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world

A handful of companies monopolise the web, with unprecedented access to our data. But there are many more ethical – and often distinctively European – alternatives

top 26 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] adespoton@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 month ago

Why doesn’t it mention the Fediverse at all???

Seems like they’re advocating using a Fairphone running e/OS, Ecosia as the search engine, LibreWolf as the browser, LibreOffice as the office package, and W for social media?

[-] itsmistermoon@piefed.social 13 points 1 month ago

Yeah, that was my main criticism of the article, it completely omitted social media.

Also, the author mentions Codeberg as the “developer” of Librewolf, so it seems is not the most tech savvy around.

[-] porcoesphino@mander.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

And social media is arguably the main thing. The network effects make it sticky but the US has been amazing at exporting it's culture, social media amplifies that, and right now that culture is a bit fascisty with a hint of freedom stopping regulation of the rich and misleading. That said, but that lens, I'm not really sure Lemmy is a great alternative since it has a lot of people from the US already and I think it wouldn't scale well (either because of lack of instances, burn out from moderators, or the problems migrating here)

[-] bryndos@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago

Cody Berg was hired by Linus Tovalds after Gita Hub left his company.

[-] br3d@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

There's a whole section on social media. That's where they discuss Mastodon and W, among others

[-] sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Huh, I wouldn't say, the article mentioned Codeberg as the developer of Librewolf.

It says:

An even more private (but still free and equally effective) version of Firefox is LibreWolf, which was developed on Codeberg, a German nonprofit.

To be honest this sentence doesn't make any sense at all: Librewolf wasn't developed, it is in active development. But it is true that it's being developed on Codeberg, which still doesn't convey a lot of information to the reader... I dont know if this article is very helpful at all...

[-] itsmistermoon@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

It previously said “by” Codeberg, so the author either catched the error or read someone else pointing out the mistake.

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago

It reads like AI slop in my opinion.

[-] CountVlad47@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago

Someone once said "don't let perfection be the enemy of good" ... or something like that.

Anyway, my point is it's good that this kind of stuff is starting to get into mainstream media, even if they don't go into as much detail as they could.

They might not have wanted to scare people off by giving them too much information all at once, especially things like the Fediverse which even lots of tech savvy people don't really understand.

[-] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 8 points 1 month ago

The steady exodus from Elon Musk’s X has benefited smaller, independent alternatives such as ... German-developed Mastodon

[-] cabbage@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

This is probably a much more efficient "mention of the fediverse" than if the journalist had started trying to explain that there is this federated network of independent social media sites bla bla bla.

The people reading this are looking for something they can understand. I expect naming Mastodon and leaving it to them to check it out will convert more people than if they started trying to explain what it is.

I'm a bit weirded out by all the attention given to w-social.eu by mainstream media, though. First of all it doesn't exist yet, second we have no reason to believe it will actually be decent, third we have good reason to believe it won't be.

[-] morto@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

curiously, he didn't mention linux as well

[-] morto@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

Maybe the author doesn't know the fediverse yet. We could try commenting there or maybe contacting him

[-] Gsus4@mander.xyz 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

they left out framasoft (the greatest suite that most degooglers have never heard of)

[-] neo2478@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago

I indeed had never heard of it, but now I have! I looks like a great suit of tools!

What's your experience using it?

[-] matlag@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Framasoft is not so much about providing the service itself, they have limited resources, but to show alternatives exist and are usable. They develop some of the tools (we own them Peertube!).

So they host services, and sometimes end them (with ample warning and instructions to migrate). As they explain: their goal is not to become an "open Google". It's to to make de-googling possible and usable by the many.

As service providers, you should look into the CHATONS.

These are mostly based on the Framasoft suite.

[-] ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

i just want a linux phone

[-] paequ2@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

Amazon is a hard one to find an alternative to. Mostly what I try to do now is buy directly from the brand. But they don't always have their own website.

Other times I can find the item locally. I'll buy it even if it costs a little more.

Also, sometimes the item is only available at Amazon or Home Depot online, for example. In that case, I'll pick Home Depot cuz they're a slightly smaller megacorp.

As a very last resort, I'll will begrudgingly buy from Amazon. Like if the item is only on Amazon or if the item is significantly cheaper there....

But, fuck Amazon Prime! That's a total scam. I canceled that years ago and never looked back.

[-] krimson@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Don't forget to ditch Google and Apple pay as well.

[-] transscribe7891@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

i knew it wasn't gonna mention the fediverse

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

Mastadon was mentioned.

[-] Nx2991@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

First thing I saw was "Subscribe via Google"

[-] zerofk@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago
[-] Squizzy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Script extension blocks them all on firefox.

[-] rngtema@feddit.dk 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What is the opinion on Vivaldi here as an alternative? I am using Firefox and Zen currently. But I wouldn't mind jumping towards a European alternative. I switched to Firefox to support an alternative to chromium based browsers, but I think EU/Nordic angle is more important to me.

[-] itsmistermoon@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

Personally I would days away from any chromium-based browser, if only on principle.

Zen is great and keeps getting better, if anyone tried it some time ago and had stability problems, chances are your experience would be much better now.

this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2026
79 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

83221 readers
608 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS